Side-wall floor-rack hinge



Sept, '1 I930- E. A. SWE-EILEY ET A; 1.776.169

SIDE WALL moon 'rmck- 1mm:

Filed NOV 19. 1929 Fl 2 I INVENTOR8 4 Q ATTORNEY.

"' 1 51- tion instead of Patented. Sept. 16, 1930 EDWARD, A" :SWEELEY, or ALEXANDRIA, YIRGINIAQAND. NORMAN '11.; ANDERSON;- or

" WASHINGTON, DISTRIGT OF.Y,COLUMBIA SIDE-WALL FLOOR-BACK HINGE 1 Application filed November" 19, 1929. Serial'ido. 4085386.

i V 1.;This inventionarelates more particularly to:

' freight cars fortransportation iof vegetables, 'ffruitendmther merchandise. It has forits object to provide? simple and eiiicient .means ifonattachment of sectional racks or ventilat ing supplementallfloors which may be-raised w-or lifted'from :over the permanent floor so as.

:toIfa'cilitate cleaningthe-floor from debristhatahaylod-ge thereon; It-has furtherzfor its-.-

'zwtain the section) sothat there will be alcleari' space-between the section and permanentpeditiously and thoroughlymleamthe entire vii floor and thereby make it possible-to more ex-1' rlpermanent floor area. Itha s further-for itsv.

object to provide a floor rack hinge thatwill 'zwpermit the rackand its hinge tomove' verhtically in case that dbris or other substance -:-?'should get under the floor rack stringers and wuthus relieve the hinge from damaging strains.

disposed onrtop 'of'the permanent: floor of the ear and ofi'an open-frame formation which will permit' air: to be circulated --'bet.weenf-the rack section'andpermanent floor and the merchandise ?above the floor rack sections. 1 l

floor rack sectionnot whichthere will "be any :desirednumber, is designated by thenumeral 31and-rwill' beuformedvof a desired number 'iOf stringers 4'J2tI1Cl CPOSSI slats 5jthe stringers resting on the permanentrfloor of thecan; and

the cross slats; spacedrapart'from one another, being. supported :by the'zstringers. %It is a desirable to connect or attach the' rack sectio-ns -to some partofi the: car so :as 'not 'tobe sfubject to accidental! "displacement and yet c-a pabletorf being lifted or -i 'aised-so:as to have the 'whole Y area of the permanent I fio or free: or uni obstrueted \bythe i floor: racks tor cleaning or =kremoving from the permanent floor particles "of merchandiseior debris-that may drop and- "lodge .upon the permanent floor. Underthe and a-t-the'same time permit the rack section-1 -'..':to'-ma1nta1n a more-nearly horlzontal posi a Ntionp sand suchz'otherobjects as may-hereinafter 'crence being had tothe accompanying-draw wing forming apart thereof-and in which Figure 1 is a perspective ofa portionof a 5H-car,:show1ng part iof a floor'rack and hinge P for connecting the rackto the side ofthecar.

Figure 2 is a perspectiveillustratingrde-f ittlllS ofthe :hinge.

.1111 the drawing the numeral 1 designates 9- a; portionbf a'-floor;and= 2 a portion "of one side of acarof any approved construction of the refrigerating type employedior trans- 'wporting fruits and vegetables and. other perishable food products. These cars are: =.susually; provided with-sectional .floor racks: v.

present invention means are provide'dfor-conanection or: attachment "of the floor racks that will permit them to be %movedor" swung' upa'more acute angleor inclina- 1 p zzsay againstthesidewall of-thecar'body,"and To the accomplishment of the fo'regoing r ward-seas to stands-in anupright position;

stand-in that position: with the rack sections supported above the :permanent floor so that dbrisaor matter-lodging on the floor may rea dily 1 be "sweptrfrom the' entire "area of the tions. ETo that-end thereis-provided a hinge qiembodying aspintle 6 which-preferably"comprises a :member 7 "designed to pass through oneofrthestringers of a fioor raclr section and held thereto: zby washers' Sand nuts Q-en gagi sing with threads on'- members 7 and bearing y against opposite sides of thestrin-gerso as to :rigidly secure the member to the stringer. 7 .One end of member 7 is forrhedwith an upwardly extending portion 10-, standing substantially atw'right angles to the: member 7 and having alat'erally extending portion 11 "designed topass through a keeper 12 adapted tot-be: secu r'ed :by't'hreaded bolts 'or'screws 13,

floor without "interference from the rack -sec or otherwise, to a side wall of the car body as illustrated in Figure 1 of the drawing. The

keeper 12 is formed with an elongated slot able movement of the rack section pintle provides for a vertical play of the section so that V if an obstruction lodges beneath a stringer ofa rack section the section will standin a substantially horizontal plane, or level, instead of at a greater or lessvacute or oblique angle, and liability of the parts to bind is prevented. The shoulder 17 at the bottom-of the off-set portion of the keeper 12 also serves as a seat for the rack section when the section is raised to stand alongside the side of the car body, and all parts of the rack section will be held entirely above and away from the permanent floor of the car, which will fa cilitate cleaning the floor from all dbris.

It will be observed that the hinge attachment for a floorracksection'is particularly slmple in formation and operation and composed of a minimum number of parts and easily applied in position without the neces sity of employing skilled labor; The keepers may be applied and remain as a 'perma' "nent part of the car body structure; and a 'floor rack section, with the pintle member of the hinge applied is "readily positioned so that the laterally extending portion of the pintle will pass through the-elongated slot of the keeper: and by passing a cotter pin 18 through a slot 19in the end of the pintle 'member, the floor rack section will be held against accidental displacement. If it be desired at any time to remove a floor rack section from the car it is easily and quickly done by removing the cotter pin 18 and then sliding the rack section far enough to withdraw Y the portion 11 of the pintle from its keeper,

when the floor rack may be carried from the car. Under ordinary conditions it is not nec-' essary to removea floor rack section from the car, and it may be thrown up against the side of the car, out of the way, so that a truck may be run over the permanent floor in loading and unloading the car, and the floorracks may in succession be lowered or raised to meet various existing conditions.

It w1ll also be observed that no part of the hinge lies over and in the plane of the top surface of a floor rack but lies belowor outside of the boundary lines of the top surface orface of the rack and hence the top plane of the rack is free from projections that might interfere with freely sliding objects 4 across the face of the floor racks, or possibly :5- cause personsto stumble in walking across the racks. It will be further observed that each floor rack is independent of all the other racks so that necessity of folding one rack onto its companion or next rack in placing and removing or in changing position of the rack, does not exist. Other advantages will be appreciated by the skilled in this art.

The best present known embodiment of the invention has been illustrated and described in detail but changes may be made therein without departure from the scope of the invention as sought to be defined by the appended claims.

Having described the invention and set forth its merits, what we claim is:

' 1. A side wall floor rack hinge comprising a pintle member for attachment to part of a'floor rack, said member having one end projected laterally'to the length of the mem ber, and a keeper for attachment to a support, said keeperbeing formed with an elongated slot to receive the laterally projected portion of the pintle member and in which the projected portion is vertically slidable.

' 2. In combination with a floor rack coniprising stringers and cross slats; a" pintle member secured to a stringer of the rack and having a portion extended at an angle-thereto andanother portion projected laterally from the angularly extended portion,1 and a keeper formed with an elongated slot to receive and permit theprojected portion of the pintle member to have a slidable movement therein, and an upright support for the keeperdisposedto permit the'rack to fold towards said support.

3. In combination with a floor rack comprising stringers and cross slats; a pintle member secured to a part of the floor rack and having a portionextended at an angle thereto and-another portion projected laterally from the angularly' extended portion, and a keeper formed with an elongated slot to receive and permit the projected portion of the pintle memberito have 'a slidable movement therein, and an upright support for the keeper disposed topermit the rack to fold towards said support, said keeper having a shoulder adjacent to its elongated slot to constitute a seat to sustain the rack in an upright posit-ion when folded.

4C. In combination with a floor rack comprising stringers and cross slats; arpintle member securedto a part of the floor rack and having one end projected laterallyjto the length of the member,a keeper made with an off-set portion to form an elongated slot to receive the projected portion of the pintle member and having a'shoulder'to form a seat to'sustain the rack in an upright position when folded, and a support for the keeper. 7 Y

5. In combination with a floor rack comprising stringers'and cross slats; a hinge for the rack comprising a keeper for attachment tnres.

EDWARD A. SWEELEY. NORMAN T. ANDERSON. 

